"Legend tells of a great warrior named Achilles," she said. "He had a great army of men, so fiercely devoted to one another that if you harmed one of them, you harmed them all. The stories say that they were all once ants, that the gods turned them into men in order to serve Achilles' father, Peleus." She glanced back at the ants. "I have no doubt that if you upset one of them, you upset them all."

She turned to examine the room. "You're right. There's nothing particularly strange. Which, I suppose, makes it stranger." Cassandra looked at Jones. "So what happens next?"